[Pyeongchang Winter Olympics] Olympic Test Event

Winter Olympics 2018 is to be held in South Korea! Yeay!! Where in Korea? The XXIII Olympic Winter Games will be held in Pyeongchang, situated in Gangwon province. Pyeongchang is famous for it’s beautiful Mount Sorak, Alpensia Ski Resort, Buddhist Temple Woljeongsa, and from now on will be known as the Winter Olympics 2018 location.

It has been a long journey for Korea to win the bidding for the Winter Olympics. The bidding journey started from the year 2003 and in the year 2011, Pyeongchang was announced as the host country for the XXII Winter Olympics! All the hardwork finally paid off!

Starting from February 9 to 25, The XXII Winter Olympic Games will be held for 17 days. This will be the first time in 30 years, after the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games. Games will take place in 3 areas – Opening and Closing ceremonies in Pyeongchang, Alpine Speed Events in Jeongseon, while all ice sports will be held in Gangneung.

Olympic Test Events

Test events is a platform for athletes and officials to become familiar with the location and surroundings of the venues and region. Other than the athletes and officials, test events are also an opportunity for the spectators to join in and participate in the events and the games. Around 3000 athletes were expected to participate in the test events. The athletes who are participating comes not only from Korea, but mostly first timers to the land of Kimchi! This is a good opportunity for them to get familiar with the weather and the atmosphere of Korea, which will and might be different from where they came from. Other than the anticipated athletes, there will be around 1000 volunteers as well.

When is the test events? It is held continuously from February 2016 until April 2017. A number of 29 events are held in which 20 are Olympic events, 5 Paralympic events, 2 non-competition events and 2 non-sport events, governed by the International Federations and organized by The Pyeongchang Organizing Committee for the 2018 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.

2016 FIS Freestyle Ski / Snowboard World Cup : Slopestyle Final

(photo cr: https://www.hellopyeongchang.com/)

The venues for the test events are depicted in the table below:

Venue

Sport

Snow and Sliding Sports

Alpensia Biathlon Centre

– Biathlon
– IPC Biathlon and Cross-Country Skiing

Alpensia Cross-Country Skiing Centre

– Cross-Country Skiing
– Nordic Combined

Alpensia Ski Jumping Centre

– Nordic Combined
– Ski Jumping

Yongpyong Alpine Centre

– Alpine Skiing Technical Events

Alpine Sliding Centre

– Bobsleigh
– Luge
– Skeleton

Bokwang Phoenix Park

– Freestyle Skiing
– Snowboard

Jeongseon Alpine Centre

– (Para) Alpine Skiing Speed Events

Ice Sports

Gangneung Hockey Centre

– Ice Hockey I
– Ice Sledge Hockey

Gangneung Oval

– Speed Skating

Gangneung Ice Arena

– Figure Skating
– Short Track Speed Skating

Gangneung Curling Centre

– Curling
– Wheelchair Curling

Kwandong Hockey Centre

– Ice Hockey II

Location

The stadiums are scattered around Pyeongchang and Gangneung.

PyeongChang Mountain Cluster

Gangneung Coastal Cluster

PyeongChang Olympic Stadium

Gangneung Hockey Centre

Alpensia Biathlon Centre

Gangneung Oval

Alpensia Ski Jumping Centre

Gangneung Ice Arena

Alpensia Sliding Centre

Gangneung Curling Centre

Alpensia Cross-Country Skiing Centre

Kwandong Hockey Centre

Yongpyong Alpine Centre

Jongseon Alpine Centre

Phoenix Snow Park

Transportation

A 2nd Yeongdong highway between Gwangju in Gyeonggi Province and Wonju has been completed, while a new highway between East Hongcheon and Yangyang is being constructed. With the new highway construction, the traffic volume between Seoul and Gangwon province will be distributed and in turn improve the traffic conditions between these two areas. The new highway will also shorten the travel time from Seoul to Gangwon province.